Giving Art a Home

Peer into the spaces and places that let art flourish.

“At Home with Filipino Artists” by Ma. Alessandra L. Hermano and Josephine Labrador Hermano

The lives and styles of Filipino artists are on exhibit in At Home with Filipino Artists. This image-intensive book helps us take a look into their creative preferences and styles of expression beyond what can be seen beyond the walls of museums and galleries. Here, we peer into these people’s private spaces, personal escapes, and favored pieces.

The first steps lead us into studios. We see Danny Dalena’s walls adorned with reminders of local culture, Napoleon Abueva outside a that studio limits the immensity of his works, and Impy Pilapil caught in dwarfish scale in a warehouse-like scenario—perfect for her towering work.

From the studios, we move into the homes. There is an illustrative feature on the play of space: on one hand, Dieter Korbanka has broken down walls literally and figuratively in his Puerto Galera hideaway; on the other, we are given a glimpse of Bencab’s Baguio home/studio encased with windows welcoming the Cordillera sun. Trademarks find their way into these homes as well. Gus Albor’s has made whitewashing something that goes beyond ordinary. Heirloom pieces and the use of natural wood works with Claude Tayag’s signature native feel. Abueva has made his monumental temple-homean exposition of his work. Annabel Alejandrino goes the other way and in tasteful restraint, choosing pieces that makes her house a home, a life separate from work.

Besides the roster of artists, collectors and their prized items are given focus as well. The list of personalities includes designer Rajo Laurel opting to use a Lao Lianben piece as a meditative accent. A Julie Lench scuplture of a troubled housewife overlooks pottery in Gilda Cordero-Fernando’s gardens. Banker Jaime Ayala shares his home with religious heirlooms, including San Miguel on horseback resting on andas (processional platform) and a stairwell of saints.

At Home with Filipino Art and Artists is 260+ pages that speak of Filipino art, and consequently, Filipino life and possibilities of expression. The selections featured may not be representative of the entire local culture, but it gives sumptuous taste of what is good and beautiful.

published in Preview, April 2003